


Protect

by missblatherskite



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: Emma and Audrey is one sided, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 03:09:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11327445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missblatherskite/pseuds/missblatherskite
Summary: Audrey would always protect her.





	Protect

**Author's Note:**

> Another work I may or may not rewrite later.

The first time Audrey hit someone, she was eight. A boy with floppy blond hair and an obnoxious smirk started teasing Emma. He followed her, called her names, pinched her when she walked past. The grown ups said he was “pulling pigtails,” that he liked her and that’s what boys did. Audrey told her dad that he couldn’t like her, because she liked Emma and she would never hurt her, never make her bite her lip and try not to cry. Her dad told her it was different, that the boy liked Emma in a different way than her, that she would understand when she was older.  
The next time he pinched Emma, she gave him a black eye. She was punished, but the boy stopped bothering Emma, and Emma stopped being upset. She thought the punishment was worth it. And she stopped trusting grown ups to keep Emma happy.

The first time Audrey got in a fight, she was eleven. A girl named Sarah started picking on Emma. She told Emma she was ugly, that she was a loser, that none of the boys would ever like her. Emma said it didn’t bother her, that her mom said the girl just had problems of her own and they should ignore her. But it did upset Emma, Audrey could see it. One day after school, Audrey cornered her in the bathroom and punched her. She fought back, pulling Audrey’s hair and scratching her face. Audrey kneed her in the stomach and pushed her into the wall. By the time the teachers got there to break it up, Audrey had bloody scratches down her face and Sarah had a split lip. They both got suspended. She was punished and Emma got mad at her. But Emma forgave her after a few days, and Sarah started leaving her alone. Everyone started leaving her alone—choosing to keep their comments safely behind Emma’s back, and never to her face. Kids starting calling her Emma’s guard dog, her bitch. She made a show of caring, but she didn’t really. Emma was her best friend, why wouldn’t she protect her?

When Audrey realized she loved her it changed everything. She didn’t have a real reason to protect Emma anymore, but she wanted to. She wanted to protect her from the boys that started eyeing her, the boys that didn’t know how special she was and would only break her heart. She wanted to protect her when THEY took notice of her—those fake, stretched wide smiles that weren’t what real friends wore, what Audrey wore when she looked at her. But Emma didn’t want her protection, didn’t want Audrey at all. She cried harder than she ever had when she realized Emma really wasn’t her friend anymore.

She had only gotten in fights for Emma, only risked any punishment for Emma, to keep her happy, to keep her safe. But then she found Noah. And he was nearly as unpopular as her, but without the reputation, without the bite to keep the worst away. And like Emma, he did his best to brush it off, pretend it didn’t bother him. Audrey knew better, and she decided she’d risk punishment for him too. She got in three fights for him. She kept them quieter, explained a black eye on someone getting in her face, explained bloody knuckles on someone calling her a bitch. She figured he’d be upset with her, a girl fighting his battles. He found out, of course, always so curious and clever. But when he confronted her he didn’t yell, he didn’t tell her he could handle it. He thanked her, he hugged her, and he told her no one had ever punched a guy for him before. He told her to stop, but because he didn’t want her getting hurt, not because it hurt his pride. She decided she wasn’t going to let him go, ever. She wasn’t going to let him slip away from her like Emma.

After the killings started, after years of distance and anger and heartbreak, she found she would still do anything to protect Emma. She had only thrown punches before, given bloody mouths and broken noses, but she’d always known she’d do more. And then she did. She shot Piper for Emma. She shot Piper, her friend Piper—Piper who had been there for her, who she had started to think of someone she would protect, too. But Emma was more important. Emma was always more important.

The second killer made her realize—a confirmation of what she’d always known—that she would die for Emma. Without a thought, without a hesitation, she would die to keep her safe. When the killer opened the car, when her heart was beating out of her chest, her mind panicking because she was handcuffed, she was trapped, she had no weapon—she tried to shield her. She knew there’d be a knife, she knew she couldn’t avoid it, but maybe she could keep it from Emma. Maybe they’d kill her and leave Emma, maybe could push her body at them, give herself enough time to run. God, just let her get away. And when the knife didn’t come, when the killer walked away and they were safe, when Emma was safe, she knew she’d make the same choice again.

And when the killer took her, all she could think was Emma shouldn’t be there, Emma shouldn’t have come after her. Now she was in danger and again it was all her fault. She wasn’t scared when Kieran revealed himself, she wasn’t scared of him with the gun. She was angry. She was angry that he used Emma, that would know a worse betrayal than what Audrey had done—she hadn’t loved her. She didn’t hide her anger, didn’t try to talk him down, didn’t try to keep him from hurting her. She drew his attention, tried to get his focus on her. She could give Emma time to run.

And when she threw the chain around his neck, she only wanted to tighten it more and more, crush his windpipe, keep him from ever hurting Emma again. But she knew Emma should be the one to kill him, so all she could do was hold him back from her, keep him still for Emma to pull the trigger.


End file.
